Cold Tile Floors and Facts About Giraffes
by MadiYasha
Summary: Wendy and Robbie sneak back into the Dusk2Dawn for a feelings jam and maybe to kiss a little.


"Uhh... hey, Wendy? Are you sure about this?"

"Dude, man up. It'll be fine."

Robbie swallowed the shudder that was creeping down his spine as he let go of the chain links and fell to the asphalt. The last time he had been in this parking lot, it was fleeing into the T-Van (the appropriate nickname the crew had christened Thompson's "hotrod" with) in absolute horror. All of them had been scared out of their wits that night, but Robbie had really taken it a lot harder than some of them. He'd watched half his friends taken captive by angry spirits before his eyes, and the entire time waited and waited for _his_ inevitable demise at their hands. The anticipation was absolutely soul-blackening, but it made for one hell of a good song later.

Wendy's suggestion to come back to the Dusk2Dawn was lost upon the boy. He saw she'd been just as traumatized as he was, and even though he didn't witness what exactly went down when he'd retired to hiding in one of the freezers, he knew it probably wasn't pretty. But this girl seemed so dead-set on going back, he couldn't help but admire her bravery.

"It's just, like, weren't you totally freaked out by the last time we came here?"

"Well yeah, but as long as we don't piss the ghosts off, shouldn't we be fine?"

He subconsciously raised his hood up as they closed in toward the entrance, grumbling. "I'm pretty sure they hate us just for existing."

"C'mon Robbie, have I ever steered you wrong before? Don't answer that."

He let another quiet sigh escape him, and followed her to the door, which had remained precariously unlocked from their last endeavor. With the lightest footsteps she could muster, Wendy pushed on the handle and let the glass door creak open.

"So far so good." She grinned at him in affirmation, and his mind eased just a little.

They spoke in whispers, so as not to disturb anyone who might be listening. The idea of it all was absurd, I mean, did ghosts even rest? Robbie tried and tried to calm his racing mind but even hiding the fact that he was having flashbacks was hard. He was practically shaking in his starched pants and off-brand Vans and Wendy could pretty much see through all of it.

"Hey," She whispered, slowly curling her pinky finger around his and grabbing his hand. "Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine."

His racing heart slowed to a dull pound and his face heated up a little at the gesture. He couldn't tell if he was embarrassed at Wendy being so much more brave than him, or if it was just that weird kind of haze that came over him whenever he was around her, but he was a little less terrified now, and he thanked his lucky stars for that.

He found himself being pulled to one of the far walls and against a toppled stack of Hostess products. It was completely dark except for the dull light of the ice machine which never seemed to burn out, and neither of them really felt the urge to illuminate the blackness of the night any further. Robbie would admit, every passing second they stayed there in peace, the less terrified he was.

"So why are we here?" He inquired.

"Keep it on the D/L, but I've actually been coming here every couple nights."

"Wendy, dude, are you crazy?!" He frantically whispered. "Didn't we learn our lesson the first time?"

She was unphased. "It's actually not that bad. I mean, the ghosts only attacked us because we were acting like rude teenagers, right? We trashed this place because we thought we were perfectly entitled to. Sure, I've been kinda playing the fates, but they haven't attacked me since. I don't think they mind visitors, as long as we're respectful?"

"Oh, yeah, _toootally._ Angry spirits are fine with you as long as you don't act like a dick."

She finally let herself show visible fear and motioned him to tone it down. "Robbie, lay off the attitude, dude, that's the kind of stuff that _will_ get us back into a poltergeist re-enactment."

He pouted at her. "It's just like, man, what if you were wrong? You could've come here alone and gotten attacked, and it'd be really crappy if I lost you."

"I'm sure I could've fought them myself. I mean, c'mon, Dipper did it."

"Fair point." He sighed.

"And besides, my dad wrestles mountain lions as a hobby. I know a thing or two about close combat." She playfully threw some punches, and he grinned.

"Alright, alright, I trust you!" He made a futile attempt to shield himself from the brunt of her attack. "But seriously, like, why'd you have us come here, anyways?"

The redhead shrugged. "Is it really any different from that graveyard you hang out in every night? I like it here. It's like... a happy place."

"Your happy place is a haunted convenience store."

"Your happy place is surrounded by dead people, too."

"Okay, fine, we're even."

"I dunno, I guess I got so comfortable in this place I neglected to realize how traumatized everyone else was by that whole escapade," She explained. "But I mean, no one ever really comes here, so I felt like taking you so we could just kinda spend some time on our own?"

"Like... how?"

"Have you noticed that pretty much every time we're together, it's with others? I mean, I like the crew, they're a blast, but you're my boyfriend, and I kind of just want to be with you sometimes."

He was taken aback for a moment. "Seriously? I always thought... nah," He stopped, looking away. "Nevermind."

"Aw, _boo_." She chastised. "C'mon, Robbie, now you gotta tell me."

"It's super dumb."

"Spill anyways, man."

"I just I just kind of always thought you didn't... _like_ me as much as I did you."

"Whaat? You're crazy, man. I love you tons."

Any fear Robbie had left from the atmosphere of the store immediately washed away at those simple words. Wendy did that a lot, churned out a simple sentence and put all of Robbie's fears to rest in a single moment.

He smiled. A genuine, honest smile. Not a forced smile, like the kind he put on when he was forced to interact with people and wanted to refrain from being _that_ little black raincloud. No, a completely real smile that ninja'd its way onto his face before he was even conscious it was there. "Thanks, Wendy."

"You know, I just realized," She pondered. "We've known eachother for like, 2 years now? And I don't know anything about you, really."

"Really?" He swallowed. "I know pretty much everything about you."

"Hey, man, don't dodge." She moved her face closer to his. "You should tell me more about yourself."

"Like... what do you wanna know?" Robbie was blushing at the feeling of her breath on his nose, and he stared into her eyes with an uncharacteristically shy expression.

Wendy just smirked. There were a lot of faces to Wendy Corduroy, but her catalogue of smiles was far broader than any other aspect of her. She had her shy smile, her warm smile, that playful grin she took on when Nate would pull on Lee's mullet and make him scream like a little girl, or that completely excited glimmer that covered her face when she'd see the T-Van pull up into the parking lot. It was a good contrast to Robbie's insane library of perpetual scowls. Her mischievous smile was all he could see now, and he didn't quite know how he jumped from point A (that grin) to point B (lying on the cold tile floor of a haunted corner store, his jet-black hair tangled with his girlfriend's, their heads just barely leaned on each other as they stared at the rotting ceiling and spilled out their entire life stories.

"When did you move to Gravity Falls?"

"6th grade," Robbie said plainly-they'd moved onto speaking aloud now, unafraid of any potential hauntings. "My dad left my mom and we were kind of all the other had. She loved me a lot, and wanted what's best for me, but she was having issues supporting me... so she shipped me off to my grandparents. You've seen their house, right? The big mansion on the hill outside of town... it's like, West?"

"Woah, dude, you _live_ there?" She sat up, agape. "That's so rad! That place is huge."

"It's alright," He was despondent. "They're nice people."

"You don't sound totally convinced."

"They're... really overbearing. I like them, but I wish they'd leave me alone sometimes. I don't want them always involved in every aspect of my life," He explained. "But I can't tell them that, because then I'm an asshole. It's like... I know they're just worried about me, but I need space."

"I hear you, bro." She nodded, lying back down. "I seriously fear the day I have to introduce you to my dad."

"_You_ fear it? Oh, ha ha."

"I don't even think he knows I'm dating yet, all the other dudes managed to make it out alive, so there is that."

"Alright, my turn... uhh..." He raised his head a notch. "Shit, what don't I know about you? Okay, if you could own any animal in the world as a pet, what would it be?"

"Oh, _man._" She giggled. "I wanna say velociraptor but could you imagine cleaning up after one of those things? Grotty."

"I think a raven would be cool, those things can totally mimic human speech. I'd just teach it to say things like 'Help I'm trapped in a raven's body!'"

Wendy laughed so hard she nearly snorted at that one. "Dude, that is the best motivation in the world for wanting to domesticate a raven. Okay, hmm... Oh! I got it. Who's the craziest chick you ever dated?"

"Actually," He started. "You're the only person I ever dated."

She sat straight up, _again, _and stared him dead in the face. "Shut up."

"No, really," Robbie propped himself up next to her and kept speaking. "You're my first."

"Dude, woah woah woah... what? Why?"

He shrugged. "I never paid any attention to other people my age. You were my first friend, too. I didn't talk to anyone or give anyone the time of day, nothing."

"Why not, though?"

"Because I was angry when I moved here. And upset. I didn't want to be here, have you noticed no one really wants to be in Gravity Falls when they get here? Everyone's just _stuck_ here, by crazy or unfortunate circumstances. The only reason people move to Gravity Falls is to complain about having to live in Gravity Falls."

Wendy nodded. "Man, so true. But what changed? You have friends now."

"That's your fault," He lowered his gaze to the floor, and then straight back at her. "Do you remember that day we met, when you came up to me sitting alone at lunch with my shitty cheap acoustic guitar, and you were all like 'Stairwaaayy! Dude, play Freebird!' and I kinda shot you a pissy glare, but then you asked me if I knew any Beatles songs, and we totally hit it off?"

"Never before had I encountered a boy in a graphic hoodie and Hot Topic armwarmers who had such spectacular taste in music." She grinned.

"But it's like... out of the maybe 500 students at Gravity Falls Middle School, no one had spoken to me at all for 2 years. Two goddamn years, and not a single word from anyone. I didn't just hate them, they hated me too, and that feeling was freakin' terrible," Robbie's words were practically dripping with venom. "But then you showed up, and you didn't care that I was an angsty little kid. You were patient, and through knowing you, I met everyone else. I was finally able to, like, really open up. I don't think I would have if you weren't around."

"Woah, man," She stared open-eyed. "I just figured you wore rad clothes and played cool music. I didn't really think anything would come of it, but it's like, here I am..."

"I'm just, you know, really glad you came around." He swallowed. "I was really nervous to ask you out, because it's like, either way you were gonna be my first everything here. My first friend, my first crush, I didn't want you to be my first heartbreak, too..."

"You're such a dumb sap." She teased.

"You love it."

"Yeah..."

There was a moment of silence among all the frantic emotion that was being exchanged between the two of them. All their expository banter screeched to a grinding halt, and that feeling that bubbled up inside Robbie's chest made itself known again. Neither of them took the time to wonder, exactly, why they'd just stopped speaking, other than it felt _right_ in the moment. Wendy considered all these things she hadn't known about the boy she'd so willingly entered a relationship with, and those thoughts personified themselves into staring wistfully at him, memorizing every single contour of him she'd never taken notice of before. Like, had his eyes always been so blue? Was he capable of growing any more than that peachfuzz that was perpetually adorning his chin? And man, every time she'd looked at his hair before it'd seemed so fried from hair dye, but now that she was actually paying attention to it, it looked crazy soft.

Robbie was easily flustered, a fact he tried desperately to hide from everyone he ever met. He really couldn't help it around Wendy, though, and it didn't help that she still managed to look like art against the dingy background of their surroundings. Everything was painted in greys and blacks and she was this bright red and green splatter just one shade off from the rest of the world. He couldn't help but notice the way the glow of the freezer gave her this oddly luminous outline or how strangely calming the low buzzing noises emanating from it were, and he realized Wendy was looking at him totally different than she ever had before, with her eyes half-lidded and her dimpled smile loosened into pursed lips, and he realized that he kind of _really liked it when she flitted her eyelashes like that and stared so... differently at him._

His internal monologue went from _"wow Wendy is so pretty and great and I'm dating her cool"_ to _"oh my god wait wait she's putting her hand on my hand she's moving closer IS SHE GOING TO KISS ME OH MY GOD..." _and he started blushing harder and trembling just a little and kept on staring at her before their noses bumped just a little and she turned her head and stuck her lips to his. He froze for a moment, completely still and trying to comprehend the fact that there was a girl on his face, before slowly closing his eyes and leaning into her as she had him. Her free hand reached up and she ran her fingers through the messy hair on the back of his head, and he shuddered again at her touch, smiling into the kiss. She could feel his heart pounding with bliss and nervousness and she just smiled back before pulling apart from him. There was a pause before he opened his eyes and crashed back to reality, where Robbie had his face pressed gently against Wendy's forehead, and everything about having their first kiss in the middle of a dead, crumbling, abandoned building fit his dumb idea of a perfect (my chemical) romance.

"Wendy," he whispered, words shaky from the encounter.

"Robbie?"

"Stick around awhile, okay?"

"You got it, dude."

"Look at them, Pa," The older female scowled. "Little rascals playing tonsil hockey in the middle of our store, we should really do something about it, huh? Didn't those pesky kids learn their lesson the first time?"

"Now, now, there's no need to get your knickers in a bunch over this one, dear." The second spirit raised a ghostly finger toward the two teens who were practically joined at the cheeks, enjoying the most comfortable of silences and sharing each other's warmth. "The way he looks at her is far beyond that boy's years."

She responded by peering satisfied into them, fading back into nothingness with her partner as the eager chatters of the young ones carried on into the night.

"_Okay, hahaha, one last cool fact about you, and then we gotta go home."_

"_Have I ever told you how much I know about giraffes?"_


End file.
